Thursday, October 14, 2010

Fill Your Page

Doing what you love does not come without sacrifices somehow. Whether it is a drastic reduction in income or reduced family time, they are there. To many, those are worth it, but to many more, it is not in the cards. So how do we do accomplish or reach the goals that stoke the fires of our passions?

It’s in the margins.


Picture a piece of lined paper. Personally I prefer college ruled, but you roll with your image. Imagine jotting down everything you have to do in the body of the page. Those things we all have to do. Now, instead of doodling on the side of the page, write down all those things you’d like to do.

There are moments every day when those things can be worked on. It is possible that you will lose sleep along the way, so be prepared for that. That’s one of those sacrifices I mentioned. That being said, if this is something that drives you and you can’t imagine not doing, you will enjoy every moment of it by using every moment.

Living in the Now can seem like some mystical BS attainable only to the enlightened. Not so. It is as simple as being exactly where you are, doing precisely what you are doing. No hoity-toity, no wishy-washy, just here. Now.

No thinking about 5 o’clock on a Friday (unless it is of course). No pining away for some other activity that you are not doing (unless that is what you can focus fully on without distractions of what you really should be doing). If you are going to daydream, then give it your full attention. Otherwise, you are missing out on what is right in front of you that demands your attention. Not living in the moment can best be compared to texting while driving. Driving is a demanding effort that commands your attention. Doing something that takes away from that puts you at risk.

So in chasing passions one must have goals to strive for, but balance that with working on what one can right now. Remember Frogger? That arcade game where the goal was to navigate various obstacles to make it across to your goal is quite apt. There will be moments where we may take the eye off the short-term goal (the next hop) and falter. Knowing when to leap takes understanding what is around you, thus being aware of Now. Set the long-term goal, move toward it, do what you can now.

Give yourself freely, meaning be honest about what and who you are. Be genuine. Giving yourself can also be putting yourself completely into your passion. Living it, breathing it, and doing everything to make it happen. If it is some sort of business, then you will have expectations. You put your heart and most likely money into something and will be looking for some return.

Interpersonal relationships are a way to give yourself without expecting a return. It will come about most likely, but going into it thinking, “what can I get out of this,” is only placating some internal fantasy of how you see yourself. Be good for goodness sake without thinking of how it may make you appear to others.

No comments: